1095 Days Without You
by hanmajoerin
Summary: Time was a juxtaposition. It claimed to heal all wounds, but gave Kagome every single one of hers. Cannon!verse. A series of interwoven drabbles highlighting the days during the three year separation where Kagome realizes that an InuYasha-less world is not one she can call home.
1. One Day Without You

1095.73 Days Without You

What were the odds that someone would actually drop a plugged in hairdryer into a bathtub or a sink filled with water? Then again, what were the odds that things like time travel actually existed and could become routine to someone who wasn't just a character in some fairytale? It probably wasn't fair to compare history to something as casual as a machine, but Kagome literally couldn't help it. Since she never cut the warning label off of the cord, it freely swung in and out of her vision while she dried her hair. Her thoughts about the feudal era and the scenario depicted on the tag were bound to cross eventually. Wrapping the cord around her hairdryer, Kagome stared at herself in the mirror. She still looked kind of crummy and felt sort of weird, but then again, she would be at school in a few hours where a whole onslaught of teenagers—more or less—would feel the same way.

"'Sis?" Souta asked, knocking on the bathroom door. Kagome scowled at the way his voice sounded. He was trying to be safe and so were Mama and Grandpa. InuYasha's side was overflowing with spiritual energy so just because her side's well stopped working didn't mean that they couldn't meet again. They were still connected. In three or four days, InuYasha would get tired of waiting and come to get her, anyway. She figured his _yoki_ would be the perfect spark to sustain this well's energy. Kagome let out the hint of a smirk at the image of InuYasha driving her family insane while waiting for her to come home from school—she wondered if he'd like the new uniform. But, at least now she understood the way InuYasha felt after murdering those bandits while he was a full demon. He was right. Miroku, Sango, Shippou, and she had been treating him too cautiously when there was nothing to be careful about in the first place.

Tucking her hairdryer away, she replied with an even, no-nonsense tone. "Yes?"

"Are you done yet?" The question reverberated through her brain. _Are you done yet?_ Was she done with the feudal era? What if the well was sealed permanently? Did a whole year of her life just merge into the some kind of gripping bedtime story? _Are you done yet?_

Offering the mirror another glance, Kagome squared her shoulders. "Yup," she said, opening the door and walking into the hallway. "Bathroom's all yours."

When InuYasha was faced with a problem he wasn't very secretive about it and, admittedly, tended to storm off, but he always did his best to find a solution or at least a way to shake it off. Kagome decided that she could, too. So instead of mulling over the "next step," Kagome gave that warning label a second thought. It seemed ridiculous that someone would be irresponsible enough to submerge something like that in water. Then again, she had her own grocery list of ridiculous accidents from roughly five hundred years ago. Of all of them, freeing InuYasha was the greatest. He made her look so good—like freshly, blown dry with salon-quality products hair. Kagome groaned at herself again because it really was horrible to compare a person to an object. Still, if InuYasha was like her hairdryer, she just hoped that the well wasn't a bathtub and prayed that she hadn't dropped him.

-X-

 _A/N: Whenever I use a hairdryer my hair just poofs up and frizzes a lot, but I have no doubt that Kagome could wield one like a champ. Anyway, I plan on making this a dumping ground for drabble pieces centered around the three year separation. We always focus on the pain InuYasha must've gone through after losing someone so precious so quickly, but we forget how hard it must've been for Kagome to readjust to life in Tokyo. And I mean, something about her healing process had to lead her to the conclusion that an InuYasha-less world is not the place for her. Maybe I'll find my own conclusion over her conclusion as I go along. Anyway, huge thanks to my girl sankontesu for requesting that I put this together!_

 _-hanmajoerin_


	2. Three Days Without You

1095.73 Days Without You

Souta wasn't magic like his sister or InuYasha, but his gut instinct was usually spot on. That was why watching Kagome walk out of the well house made his body irrupt into a gigantic itch that he couldn't scratch.

"This is hardly the time for InuYasha to learn what patience is," Kagome grumbled, swinging her backpack across her arms. "Honestly. I'm going to teach him a thing or two about timing later today."

Souta's heart dashed to his stomach. It fled there every time his sister talked like InuYasha wasn't stuck too. There was no doubt that the latest battle Kagome and InuYasha just finished was taxing (he was beginning to wonder if the bags under Kagome's eyes were now tattooed there), but it also felt final in more than one sense. "Hey," Souta began, matching their strides. "What if the well's broken," he practically squeaked as the two began walking down the shrine stairs.

"It is," Kagome replied in a matter of fact manner. "That's why InuYasha has to come back to get me."

Souta stared up at her, eyes alert. "No, I mean, what if it's broken on InuYasha's side, too...?"

Kagome tossed a sharp expression in his direction and he swallowed. "InuYasha always comes for me," she argued.

"Yeah, I know, but—"

" _Always._ " Souta stared down to his gut. He had a feeling that changing the subject was better than exploring it. A large part of him wished that his instincts were as good as his magic.

-X-

 _A/N: For such a young dude, Souta has always seemed pretty clever, sharp, and smart. He is Kagome's younger brother so... Anyway, although these are short drabbles, I tend to agonize over every word I type. The good news is that I have the next chapter's skeleton, but I've got to switch gears and work on meselfanwhy and my original comic, "Pass the Yaten" (google search that ish). I'll be trying to finish the next one as soon as possible though!_


	3. Five Days Without You

1095.73 Days Without You

Guilt was coursing through Kagome's veins more than blood. If InuYasha was visiting, she knew he'd feel horrible learning that she dreamt about him like that. His eyes would soften, but they wouldn't be doused in empathy. They would be doused in self-hate. _InuYasha isn't even here,_ Kagome reminded herself, loosening her grip on the comforter. She turned over to squint at InuYasha's usual place by the wall, adjacent to the window. _I want him to be._

Kagome poked a hand out to shift her alarm clock toward her line of vision. She was used to holding it close enough so that the numbers blurred. After InuYasha broke her last one though (back when they first met Koga), her mom replaced it with the kind that plugged into the wall. It made it impossible for Kagome to grab, but it also made it harder for a certain pair of hands to take since it was "stuck" to the wall.

Still, the fluorescent red numbers blared at Kagome. It was 5:00am on the fifth day since she and InuYasha purified the sacred jewel, but it was the first time she had a dream about it. Her mind retained an alarming amount of details from the final battle—the odd beating of Naraku's body under the soles of her shoes, the tangled bunch of nerves that made up her body, the hard feel of InuYasha's elongated nails as he pushed her off that cliff...

Kagome blinked, opening her eyes to the clock reading 5:01. She wished she dreamt about tossing Tetsusaiga up to InuYasha. At the time, Kagome never once thought about the consequences—she was freefalling in every sense of the word.

 _5:02._

Maybe if InuYasha was here, that's what the dream would have been.

-X-

 _A/N: I'm always reminded about how wonderful writing what you want is during the school year. Seriously. This was such a welcomed form of procrastination (and I hope the wait was worth it!)_


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